Robert Horry hit the go-ahead jumper with 2:11 left and the Los
Angeles Lakers held the New York Knicks without a field goal
over the final 3 1/2 minutes en route to their third straight
win, 99-94.

Charles Oakley gave the Knicks their last lead, 92-91, with a
pair of foul shots with 2:28 left, but Horry answered with a
20-footer from the right side. New York's John Starks missed and
Los Angeles rebounded and called timeout with 1:38 remaining.

Shaquille O'Neal, who finished with 17 points in his season
debut, was fouled by Oakley and hit 1-of-2 from the line. The
Knicks tried to force the ball inside to Ewing, but Horry poked
it away from behind and the Lakers recovered.

O'Neal, who drew his sixth foul with 27 seconds left, was fouled
again and made a free throw to build the lead to 95-92. Ewing
hit a pair from the line to lift New York within a point before
Eddie Jones finished the Knicks with the final four points.

"(It was) playoff-style basketball early in the season,"
observed Lakers coach Del Harris. "Going after each other on
national TV. There were a lot of things going on out there."

Ewing got the best of his West Coast counterpart with 29 points,
14 rebounds and three blocks. He was 9-of-11 from the line as
New York hit 27-of-29 free throws. O'Neal shot 7-of-12 from the
floor and pulled down eight rebounds.

"I felt good tonight, I felt strong," said O'Neal. I've been
working out with (strength coach) Jim Cotta. I felt as if I
didn't play as well as I could have tonight, but I played well
enough for us to win."

"I thought he (O'Neal) was fantastic," praised Harris. "He's
had about five practices. He got double and triple-teamed
tonight."

Horry had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Rick Fox added 14 for
Los Angeles, which is one of three undefeated teams in the NBA
at 3-0.

"With New York coming in here we knew it was going to be a
playoff atmosphere," said Horry. "A lot of people expect us
both to be in the finals."

It was a seesaw battle throughout, with the lead changing hands
14 times -- seven in the final quarter. The Knicks led by as
many as eight points while Los Angeles built up a six-point
advantage in the early going.

New York enjoyed a brief seven-point lead in the third quarter
until Horry hit a pair of free throws to spark a 13-2 run. Fox
capped the burst with a follow shot that put the Lakers ahead,
66-62, with 6:24 to go in the quarter.

The Knicks climbed back and the lead went back and forth the
rest of the way. Ewing sank New York's last field goal, giving
them a 90-88 advantage with 3:31 to go.

New York went 10-for-10 from the line while scoring just 18
points in the fourth quarter. The Knicks were careful with the
ball over the first three sessions, committing just nine
turnovers. But they lost it seven times in the fourth,
including a costly bad pass by Oakley that was stolen by Nick
Van Exel with 57 seconds left.

"For so many years on the out-of-bounds play you know what they
are going to do," explained Van Exel. "I was just reading
Patrick's eyes and I saw him go over there (beneath the basket),
and I thought if I could get there, then I could get that
steal."

"We made a couple of key mistakes and turnovers in the game,"
Ewing said. "I think that is the main reason why we lost
tonight. In games like this you can't turn the ball over like
that."

Chris Childs, who scored 16 points, was the only Knick besides
Ewing to score in double figures. For the Lakers, Jones and Van
Exel added 11 each while reserve Elden Campbell chipped in 14
and seven rebounds in 23 minutes.

It was Los Angeles third home win against New York in the teams'
last eight meetings.

"Anytime you can beat a team like New York, it's a good win,"
said Van Exel. "They always play us tough right down to the
wire. If you ask them, they'll tell you we played good defense
tonight."

"We made a lot of mistakes that we really shouldn't have made.
We really didn't shoot the ball particulary well," admitted
Starks, who hit on only 3-of-10 from the field. We just didn't
knock it down tonight. They played a good game, you got to take
your hat off to them."

New York shot 41 percent (32-of-78) while finishing with under
100 points for the first time in three games.